Europe Ablaze
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Europe Ablaze puts hundreds of planes at your command to send out over the deadly skies of Britain, France, and Germany during World War II. Take the place of Reichsmarschall Goering or Air Chief Marshal Portal to plot campaign-wide priorities and set the tactical doctrines your fleet commanders must follow. Then sit back and helplessly watch the events of the day take their course: the successes, the devastation, and lost planes tallied for you tersely at the end of each day, like a report card on which the fate of your nation depends. If that's too much responsibility and not enough action, the role of fleet commander is available, too. To warm this seat, you need some real knowledge of air strategy. Plan night and day missions, approach vectors, and rendezvous. Balance wear and tear on your squadrons with the demands of your commander-in-chief. Select targets that maximize each squadron's skills and planes, but keep abreast of enemy flight paths -- your opponent has plans of his own.

Up to twelve hot-seat players can split up the air command roles available in Europe Ablaze, or one player can take on all the roles or even leave everything to the computer to learn some strategy. Detailed hex maps included with the game lay out the targets in each scenario and provide a platform for planning the next day's strategy. The computer screen alternates between short menus leading to command and report screens, and a campaign-wide map on which the events of the day play out. Though the planning is turn-based, fleet commanders have access to "run-time" commands by halting the spinning clock which marks the progress of the day. Enemy strike plots can be examined, intercepts sent out, and patrols strengthened every five minutes if you like.

Behind the scenes, accidents happen, crews gain experience, repairs are made, and the results are rolled into each day's report. Weather varies regionally and changes with the season and the hour. Ultimately, victory rests on destruction delivered; each air fleet commander is scored separately, and their contributions determine the commander-in-chiefs' scores, which decide the outcome of the scenario. A map editor adds complete design of new campaigns and a sample Mediterranean scenario.

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Description from the packaging:

The Air War Over England and Germany 1939-1945.
Europe Ablaze is a complete game system designed to bring to life the vital struggle in the air which raged over Europe for almost five years.

Three scenarios, selected from the various phases of the war, are presented to simulate the changing fortunes of battle as Britain, at first beleaguered by an overwhelming Luftwaffe, finally becomes the bastion from which American and British bombing forces wreak havoc upon the German war machine.
Each scenario offers up to six command positions per side, any or all of which may be computer controlled. The player takes the role of C in C (Air Forces) and/or up to five subordinate commands. The result is an entertaining and rewarding experience for either solitaire or group play.
Major bombing missions are planned twice per day (daylight ops at midnight, night ops at noon) and require target selection, course plotting, speed and H hour determination and finally squadron allocation. Other operations available to strike aircraft include harassment, raid, and recon missions.
Fighter aircraft perform intercept and patrol (both standing patrols and intruder patrols) ops in response to ground and radar sightings. These ops can be launched at any time.
Targets range from city centers (population, industry, communications and port facilities) to radar stations, airfields and shipping lanes.

The weather routines have been carefully integrated into the game system and such occurrences as storm fronts, ground fog and moonlight are certain to frustrate the would-be mission controller.
Each air commander is blessed (or cursed) with a comprehensive doctrine which may restrict his target selection, limit his escort allocation and/or determine the combat actions of his air formations. Sometimes it's not just the enemy which must be overcome, but also your own higher command.
Europe Ablaze is not limited in scope to the three historical scenarios provided. The creative gamer and historians have available to them a comprehensive Game Design Kit which can be used to create scenario variants as well as original campaigns. To explain their use, the design routines are illustrated with an entirely new scenario recreating the strategic air operations from the Mediterranean theater in March 1944.

At your disposal are the following data bases.

A 42 by 36 hex grid.
24 Aircraft types.
255 Squadrons.
127 Airbases.
63 Centers (each with population, industry, communication and port facilities defined).
63 Radar stations.
63 Shipping lanes.
63 Flak units.
A weather creation utility.
National doctrine.
Cursor selection.
A victory determination utility.
Identity and briefing routines.
